Private LNAT tuition

Private LNAT Tuition with Catherine Robinson

Hello! My name is Catherine Robinson, and alongside creating LNAT Prepper I offer private one-to-one LNAT tuition for students preparing for both Section A and Section B of the exam.

I have been tutoring full time since graduating with First Class Honours in Law from Durham University. Over that time I have worked with more than 350 students and completed over 6,000 hours of one-to-one tuition. LNAT preparation has become a particularly important part of my work, with many of my students applying to universities including Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Durham, Bristol and other highly competitive law schools.

When I sat the LNAT myself in 2017, I scored 31/42, compared with an average candidate score of 17/42 that year. Since then, years of teaching the exam have given me a much deeper understanding of why students lose marks and, importantly, how the reasoning behind different LNAT questions can actually be taught.

My tuition is online and tailored to the individual student. Some students come to me several months before their LNAT and want to work through the exam systematically. Others already have a strong score but need help identifying the few types of questions that continue to catch them out. I also offer shorter intensive preparation for students whose exam is approaching quickly.

Or email me at catherinerobinsontuition@gmail.com

Section A tuition

A large part of improving at Section A involves understanding exactly what the question is asking you to do.

Students often begin LNAT preparation by treating every question as a general reading-comprehension exercise. In reality, there is an important difference between being asked what a writer states, what can reasonably be inferred, what the argument assumes, what follows as a deduction, or which claim forms part of the writer’s reasoning.

Those distinctions can seem fairly minor until you encounter four answer choices that are all plausible.

For example, an answer may be something the writer would probably agree with while still being wrong if the question asks for a necessary assumption. Another option may accurately repeat something from the passage without actually answering the question being asked. A statement can strengthen an argument without being something that the argument depends upon.

This is why I spend time teaching the reasoning behind the question types rather than simply giving students large numbers of passages to complete.

• assumptions, implications and inferences
• premises and conclusions
• assertions and evidence
• interpreting words and phrases in context
• identifying the writer’s position
• distinguishing the main argument from subsidiary points
• recognising the purpose of examples and comparisons
• dealing with questions about tone and style
• eliminating attractive but ultimately unsupported answer choices

Once a student understands what each question is testing, we apply that understanding to progressively harder examples.

A particularly important part of my teaching is looking closely at the wrong answers. If you simply learn that the answer was B, very little has necessarily changed. If you understand why C looked attractive, what subtle mistake would lead somebody to choose it and what you should look for next time, that mistake becomes much less likely to happen again.

That same approach is the basis of the explanations and answer-trap analysis used throughout LNAT Prepper.

Using your results to target your weakest areas

Students do not all lose marks in the same way, so I do not follow an identical lesson sequence with everybody.

One student might be consistently strong at direct comprehension questions but struggle to distinguish assumptions from things that are merely implied. Another might understand the argument very well but repeatedly choose answers that go slightly further than the passage permits. Somebody else may have good accuracy when working slowly but lose marks once time pressure is introduced.

If you have not already taken a full practice paper, I would recommend beginning with the free LNAT diagnostic on LNAT Prepper.

The diagnostic contains a full Section A paper of 42 questions across 12 passages. After submission, you can see your overall score as well as a breakdown of your performance across different question types.

If you complete it before our consultation, you are very welcome to send me your results. We can then use them as a starting point for deciding where your tuition time is most likely to make a difference.

Section B essay tuition

Section B requires a different type of preparation.

You have 40 minutes to select one of three questions, decide what you actually want to argue, plan the essay and then produce a clear piece of persuasive writing. A student can have interesting ideas and strong general knowledge but still lose effectiveness if those ideas are not organised into a coherent argument.

I teach students a straightforward structure that can be adapted to a wide range of LNAT essay questions.

We work on the full process, beginning with choosing the question strategically and deciding on an answer before writing. From there, we look at how to organise the main arguments, how much explanation each point needs, how to deal with counterarguments and how to reach a conclusion that follows from what has actually been argued.

Students also write essays between lessons so that I can give detailed feedback on their own work.

This is important because essay problems are often very individual. One student may write clearly but fail to develop their reasoning far enough. Another may have excellent ideas but attempt to include so many of them that none receives enough analysis. Others spend too much of the essay describing both sides without making a persuasive case of their own.

The aim is to reach the point where you have a reliable method you can use regardless of which topics happen to appear on the day.

What students have said

Over the years I have been fortunate to receive a lot of emails and messages from students after their LNAT results and university decisions arrive. I certainly cannot take all the credit for their results because they put a great deal of work in themselves, but it is always lovely to hear that the tuition helped.

These are screenshots of some of the emails and messages received from students and parents, reproduced with permission. Surnames, email addresses and profile pictures have been redacted.

I have more than 200 five-star reviews across my tutoring work, with an average rating of 4.95/5. If you would like to see further reviews before booking, please feel free to ask.

About me

I began studying Law at Durham University in 2017 and graduated with First Class Honours before becoming a full-time tutor.

Since then, I have taught more than 350 students across LNAT preparation, university-level Law, A Level Law and A Level Business, completing more than 6,000 hours of one-to-one tuition.

Although experience matters, one of the things I think matters just as much in private tuition is whether the student actually feels comfortable saying that they do not understand something.

LNAT questions can be frustrating because the difference between two answers is sometimes genuinely subtle. I would much rather a student stop me and say that two options still look identical than leave the lesson pretending that the distinction makes sense.

I also try to be very responsive outside lessons. If a parent or student emails me with a question, I normally reply within a few hours where possible.

I currently hold an enhanced DBS certificate and have previously tutored in schools through the National Tutoring Programme.

How the tuition works

Each lesson lasts 45 minutes.

I have found that this works particularly well for LNAT preparation because the lessons involve quite concentrated reasoning. Forty-five minutes gives us enough time to examine questions properly without reaching the point where concentration starts to drop.

Most students have either one or two lessons per week, depending on how close they are to the exam and how much preparation they want to complete.

For a student who wants to cover Section A and Section B thoroughly, around 10 sessions is normally a good starting point. Some students choose 12 to 15 sessions because they want additional practice and essay feedback, while students who have less time available can complete a more intensive five-session course.

There is no requirement to buy a package before speaking to me. I offer a free 15-minute Zoom consultation so that we can discuss your current preparation, universities, test date and what you would actually like help with.

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